Cristiano Ronaldo paused for a moment, just to take it all in. His eyes were
still bleary from the tears, his cheeks swollen from the effort of
suppressing his emotions. He stood, stock still, on the stage, staring off
into the middle distance. One hand rested on the shoulders of his beloved
son, Cristiano Jr. The other clutched his gilded baby, the Ballon d’Or.

If there was any doubt about how much the Real Madrid forward wanted to be
named Fifa’s World Player of the Year, it was swept away in those brief
moments in between Pelé announcing that Ronaldo